The Housewife
by Dieuwiekiwi
Summary: While Leo is away on holiday, Nikki receives a call, early Monday morning, about a dead woman close to Wimbledon, who leaves a happy family behind. Together with DCI Daniel Thompson she needs to figure out who this woman was, what she was doing out in the cold, rainy night and, more importantly, what happened to her. In the meantime, she begins to suspect Harry is seeing someone.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello again, guys! I know it has been quite a long time since I last wrote, but a new story just popped into my head **** Here we go with chapter 1. Hope you like it and if you do: don't hesitate to leave me a lovely little review ;) Oh and btw I might be a little rusty on my English, that might be because I haven't written anything in English for a loooong time :P**

**Btw I keep pretending no one ever left our team, so it's still Nikki, Harry, Leo, Janet and Zak **

**Also, this story has got nothing to do with my previous one.**

**Enjoy!**

**I do not own any of the characters in this story. They all belong to the BBC, I just like to keep them together :P**

Chapter 1.

She got woken up by the sound of her phone ringing.

No, that couldn't be… It was dark all around her when she opened her eyes…

There was that sound again.

Nikki turned towards the sound and looked at her alarm clock; it stated it was 3.38.

Then she realised she had to answer her phone and she knew what it was going to be about, because she was on call.

She cleared her throat, sat up and answered her phone.

"Nikki Alexander."

"This is DCI Thompson. I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour, but I'm afraid we need you at a scene."

She sighed and got out of bed.

"Where?"

"Kingston Road, near the bus station."

"Okay, I'm on my way."

She hung up and sighed again. She always hated this kind of thing, especially on Mondays…

Quickly she got dressed and walked out the door.

Gosh, why did it have to be raining?!

If only I had made myself a cup of coffee first, she thought as she was driving towards Kingston.

She was still far from awake when she arrived at the scene. There wasn't very much going on; there were only two police cars and a few officers were walking around with police tape. They had set up a tent where the body was lying, but usually that wasn't of much help.

Nikki parked the car a few feet from the second police car and got out. Even before she was able to get to her trunk for a SOCO suit she was soaked. Good thing she hadn't put any makeup on then.

As she was putting on her suit, a man with an umbrella came walking towards her.

"DCI Daniel Thompson," he said, as soon as he was in hearing distance.

He held out his hand, which she shook.

He looked like he was quite young to be a DCI… Maybe a little younger than her even.

"Nikki Alexander."

"Sorry we had to call you out of bed," he said as they walked to the tent together.

"Oh, I'm sure this wasn't your idea of a nice Monday morning…"

"What a great night to die," the detective grumbled.

"Do we have an ID yet?"

"Nope, we haven't checked yet, we reckoned we should wait until you were here."

"How very kind of you," Nikki said with a smile.

She sat down next to the body.

It was a woman, approximately 30-40 years old. There was no blood on the scene, maybe she was dumped here? There were no wounds visible or anything else, really. There was a big bag lying next to her, like a travel bag.

Nikki checked her purse.

"This driver's licence belongs to one Sharon Hughes. It looks like she was married, too."

She held up the wallet to Thompson, showing him the photos of two children inside the wallet.

His expression became a lot more serious straight away.

"We need to find out what happened here as soon as possible. Can you say anything yet?"

"Hmm not much. I can give you an approximate time of death, but in this weather you'd be looking at quite a big time frame… Plus, there are no obvious signs that indicate why she died, so…"

"How soon do you think you could get the PM done?"

"I think… somewhere today probably?"

"Good, let me know when you want to start, then I'll be there, okay?"

"Sure."

"Alright, then we'll wrap it up here. You can go back home and get a few hours of sleep."

"Great idea."

Although she doubted whether she was going to get any sleep, but at least she could get a long, very hot shower soon. Not only was it raining, she could only just keep herself from shivering because of the freezing gusts; winter was coming.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later sometime today, then," Nikki said.

"Jep, see you in a few hours."

She got back in her car as fast as she could and drove home. She was always so amazed by how quiet London could be at night, especially in this weather. On her whole ride home there was no one to be seen out on the street, but she wouldn't have been out there if she hadn't had to.

As soon as she got back home again, she jumped in the shower to warm up. The downside of that was that the hot water made her feel more awake, so when she got back in bed she didn't really need to sleep anymore.

After only five minutes she got out again and made herself a cup of coffee.

She sat down at the kitchen table with her coffee and a warm blanket and thought about the woman they had just found. She could never keep herself from imagining about their lived, especially if she hadn't done a PM yet. Had Sharon been happily married? Was she even married? How were the children called? Where did they live? And especially, what had Sharon been doing out there, in the middle of the night, in the wet and cold darkness? Had she been on a night out with friends? Probably not, why would she on a Sunday night? Maybe she didn't have to work on Monday?

STOP, Nikki said to herself.

There was absolutely no point in thinking about these things. There was absolutely no point in doing so, so why bother? It only got her emotionally involved in cases and that hadn't always turned out well…

She took a tip of her coffee and tried to think about something else. How busy was it going to be the rest of the day? Leo was on holiday with Janet, so she and Harry would have to manage the Lyell Centre on themselves. Of course they had Zak to help out, but still… She just hoped besides Sharon Hughes, she wouldn't have to do many other things, especially because she had had far too little sleep.

She checked her watch; it was nearly 5 o'clock now, only a few hours until she would need to do Sharon's PM.

**So, that's it for now **** what do you think?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again **** I've made some slight alterations to the first chapter, just so you know…**

**Enjoy ;)**

Chapter 2.

She nearly jumped out of her chair when her phone started ringing. For a few seconds she looked around, slightly confused; she had actually managed to fall asleep by the kitchen table.

She turned her attention back to her phone. It was Harry.

"Hi."

"Good morning, Nikki. I heard you got called out last night."

He sounded like he thought that was really funny. That kind of thing never ever happened on nights when _he _was on call, of course…

"Yes, I was…"

She yawned and stretched her legs.

"So, did you have a nice time, splashing through the rain with Daniel?"

"Ha-ha… Do you know him?"

"Yes, we worked on a case together a few months ago… Good lad… With that said, do you know what time it is?"

Nikki checked her watch.

"Shit!"

She got up from her chair and got ready to leave.

"Yep, that's actually why I called. I figured you had gone back to bed or something and I wanted to give you a few hours, but I heard Daniel would like you to do the PM sooner rather than later, so…"

"Yeah I get it, thanks. Okay, see you in a few."

"Don't drive too fast," he said.

"Alright, Mum. See you in a bit."

She hung up the phone and grabbed an apple from the fridge. She wasn't hungry, but maybe in a few hours?

On the way to the door she looked in the mirror, which made her decide to quickly put on some makeup; she almost looked worse than Sharon Hughes did.

After that she jumped in her car and drove straight to the Lyell Centre.

"Good morning, Nikki," Zak said as soon as she came walking in.

"Do you think?" she muttered.

He smiled.

"DCI Thompson is waiting for you."

Zak pointed to behind him.

"Thanks."

She walked through to the sitting room, where Daniel Thompson was sitting half asleep in one of the comfy chairs.

"Have you slept at all?" she asked when she sat down opposite of him.

Slowly he shook his head.

"So… Do we know anything more about her?"

He yawned.

"Yes. She was actually only a few hundred yards away from her home. Plus, we examined the contents of her bag and we found a plane ticket from Trabzon to Heathrow."

"Trabzon?"

"Turkey, she had actually landed only about three hours before she was found dead."

"What? So that's why she had that big bag with her?"

"Yeah, she had probably taken a cab home from the airport or something…"

"Yeah, but why hadn't she been taken all the way to her house? I mean, in that weather? I would want to get out the cab as close to home as possible," Nikki wondered.

"We will have to ask the cab driver, but we are still looking into that."

They both went quiet for a few seconds.

"Does the husband know already?" Nikki asked.

"Yep, just came from the house, poor husband…" he said with a sad look.

"Oh…"

Someone knocked on the glass doors behind Nikki and walked in.

"Nikki, can you help me with two PMs?" Harry's voice sounded as he walked into her purview.

He looked a bit stressed.

"Why? What happened?"

"Gang shooting… We've got four dead guys and I can't do them all on my own."

"Maybe give Leo a call?" Nikki asked.

"Yeah sure, why not? He's just on his first holiday in three years."

"I wasn't even serious, Harry. But I guess your case takes priority. Is that okay with you, Daniel? Then I'll do Sharon's PM tomorrow."

She turned back to her detective, who had fallen asleep in his chair.

"I guess he thinks it's fine, then," Harry said.

Nikki giggled and got up.

"So _you_ weren't actually late this morning?" she asked when they were on their way to the dressing room.

"I certainly was not. Proud?"

"Very."

She looked at him. Somehow he looked different today, very happy in a way… And the way he walked, just more energetic than normal. During all the years she spent working with him she had learnt to recognise this behaviour.

"Are you seeing someone, Dr. Cunningham?" she asked.

He smiled.

"Now, why would you ask that, Dr. Alexander?"

"Because I think you are."

He looked away; that was the giveaway.

"You _are _seeing someone!"

"I can't say you are wrong."

"Who? Do I know her?"

Nikki got all excited.

"You most certainly do _not_ know her."

They looked at each other for a few seconds.

"Oh and that is all you are going to give me?"

He looked at her with a big grin and nodded.

"How unfair! Pleeease? Tell me? Where did you meet? What's her name?"

He just looked at her with that smile, but he still didn't say anything.

"I _will _find out, Dr. Cunningham," she said as she went into the bathroom.

Quite cute how he always was so shy about his girlfriends. He never really wanted to tell her anything about them, but she would just keep asking until he would finally tell her something and this time would be no exception. He never won if it was a case of stubbornness, she always did.

"Where does she live?" she asked when she got back in the dressing room.

"The guys in the cutting room were found in Peckham. Someone heard shooting and called the police. They think there was a gang fight going on," Harry said, pretending he didn't hear her.

"How old?"

"Mid-twenties."

Somehow it always hit her a bit harder seeing someone dead on the slab who was much younger than her. Just the thought of those people having such a big part of their lives ahead of them… Especially with boys from gangs... Most of them had just thrown their lives away to earn their place in the pack and where did it sometimes get them? Dead…

She sighed.

"Come on Harry, let's do this. Did you ask Zak and Nigel to come in and help?"

"Yes, I think they are already waiting for us inside."

"Okay, let's go."

They left the dressing room and made their way to the cutting room.

**Alright guys, who else is happy for Harry, that he is seeing someone? No, just kidding :P Hope you liked it, please leave me a little review if you did ;) **


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

It had gone past 9 am now and she still hadn't shown; why? He had checked the flight stats and her plane hadn't had any sort of delay or anything, so she should have arrived at the meeting spot a few hours ago…

He decided to call her now. He never liked doing that, but now he didn't have a choice. He looked up her number in his phone and called.

At least it didn't go straight through to her voice mail.

"This is detective chief inspector Daniel Thompson speaking."

Shit! Had he dialled the wrong number?

Quickly he calmed himself down.

"I think I have dialled the wrong number, I'm looking for Sharon Hughes?"

"No, this is her phone… I'm sorry, who is calling?"

Had she been caught at the airport or something?

Quickly he made up a name.

"Jared Hutchinson, I'm a colleague of Sharon's. Has something happened?"

He tried his best to sound worried.

"I'm very sorry to have to tell you this, Mr Hutchinson, but Sharon Hughes died last night."

Damn! No way!

"What?! How?"

That actually _was _a spontaneous reaction.

"I'm sorry, but I can't say anything more at this point."

He went quiet for a few seconds.

"Okay then… thank you…"

He hung up the phone.

"Fuuuuck!"

He slammed his phone against the door so hard that it broke into pieces and left a crack in the door. For a second he wanted to hit his fist through that same door, but he realised that wouldn't be a good idea.

He sat down and talked to himself.

_Keep calm, there is nothing you can do about it now_. _You will be able to fix this, Chris…_

But how? The stuff was out of his reach and with that, his money was gone and he could not hold her responsible now, let alone the husband. The husband probably didn't have a clue about why she had left for Turkey in the first place.

How on earth was he going to manage this? He had people waiting for the stuff, now he had to tell them he couldn't supply them, not soon anyway…

But wait! What if the police hadn't found the stuff yet? Maybe there still was a way to fix this.

He needed to find out more. He decided to drop by at Sharon's house and talk to her husband. Yes, he was going to that straight away. He got his car keys and got out of the shed where he had been waiting.

When he arrived at Sydney Road, he was glad to see no police car parked in front of number 45. That hopefully meant Owen was alone.

He parked his car a bit further up the road, got out and rang the doorbell.

It took a few seconds, but then Owen opened the door, just far enough for him to see who was standing outside. He looked horrible; his eyes were swollen and red and he was still wearing his pyjamas.

"Yes?" he said softly.

"Hello Owen, I'm so sorry to hear about Sharon."

The man in front of him didn't understand who he was, which made sense; they had never met.

He decided to use the same name as he had done in the conversation with the detective.

"I'm Jared Hutchinson, I worked together with Sharon."

Slowly, Owen nodded.

"Do they have any idea what happened to her yet?"

He shook his head.

"No, they've only told me that someone found her out on Kingston, which is just the street over there."

Owen pointed to his left.

Why had she gone back to her house? They had set up a meeting point and she would go home _after _they had met, not _before_.

"But Dr Alexander just called me to tell me they won't be able to do the autopsy today, so I won't know what has happened to her until tomorrow or maybe even the day after…"

He sighed and tears welled up in his eyes again.

So he still had time to get the stuff before the police got the chance so seize it.

"Dr Alexander?"

"Yeah, she is going to perform the autopsy."

Dr Alexander then. He needed to find out where and when the autopsy was going to take place.

"I'm very sorry, Owen… How are the kids holding up?"

"I haven't told them yet –"

He burst into tears and his hands started shaking.

"Well, I wish you all the best, Owen."

"Th-thanks."

He raised his hand and walked away.

Good, now he knew he had some time to figure out how he was going to solve this problem. The only question was: what if the police _had _found it? They probably weren't going to proclaim it all over the news, because they would want to piece the network together. He needed to be careful either way.

So, what else could he do today? He really needed to get some things from one of his mates, to prepare for the retrieval of the stuff which Sharon Hughes had been carrying for him. He would get Richie to come with him.

He also needed to seriously consider whether he was going to do this kind of thing ever again. If he didn't manage to get the stuff back, he would be screwed. Obviously he wouldn't want a repetition, if that was going to be the case.

Anyway, first he needed to try and fix this, then he would think about the future.

**So, I bet you guys have started to like this guy already now, haven't you? More will follow soon, perhaps even today **** I hope you have been enjoying it so far **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

Performing the four PMs took quite long and a few times Nikki caught herself wishing Leo was there to help them. Unfortunately he couldn't be, but in the end they managed to finish before 4 pm, with a lunch break after the first two.

It had been quite clear from the start what the causes of death had been, because they had all been shot at least four times…

It always made her wonder: why did this type of violence still occur so often? Wasn't there something the police could do about it? How did these guys even get their hands on such weapons? Sometimes it was almost like they were living in the US instead of the UK!

"I feel like I could sleep for a week now," Nikki said as soon as she fell into her chair at her desk. "And we are not even finished yet…"

She sighed.

They also had to type up the reports before they would be able to go home.

"Oh, I can do that. You can go home if you like," Harry said when he sat down opposite of her.

What a sweet thing to say, although she knew he was actually hoping she would stay. And how could she not?

"No way! We have to do _four _of them, Harry. You can't do them all on your own."

"Okay, then let's get started."

It was hard for her not to fall asleep during the next two hours. Fortunately the reports were fairly uncomplicated; the causes of death were very obvious and besides that, there wasn't much else going on in this case.

Nikki decided to order some Chinese, because she knew Harry really liked it and they wouldn't be able to finish before dinner anyway.

"Okay, let's take a break, then we can finish up after dinner," Nikki said after she had made the call.

"I think that's a _very _good idea indeed, Dr Alexander."

Harry switched off his monitor and leaned back in his chair.

"So, what do you think about your woman from this morning?" he asked.

"I don't know really, but I can't stop wondering why she didn't get out of the cab in front of her house… I mean, it was dark, cold, wet and as a woman you should never be alone in the dark, certainly not at that hour…"

"Maybe she didn't want to be seen being dropped off by a cab? Maybe she decided to walk the last bit, so she wouldn't draw too much attention?"

"Yeah, but who notices a cab arriving at two o'clock or however late it was?"

"Nosy neighbours?"

"But still, what would it matter if someone had seen her getting out of a cab? I mean, sometimes you get home late at night, who cares?"

Harry shrugged and held up his hands.

"I don't know, maybe there was something about the cab driver?"

"How do you mean?" Nikki asked.

"Maybe something was off about him and she didn't want him that near her house?"

"Maybe…" she mumbled.

"Where did she come from? Which airport?"

"Heathrow."

"No, I mean where did she fly in from?"

"Trabzon, Turkey."

"Do they know why she went there?"

"Well, I don't know, I haven't spoken to Thompson anymore after this morning. Actually, I think I'm going to give him a call right now."

She picked up her phone and dialled Daniel Thompson's mobile.

"DCI Thompson."

"Hi, it's Nikki Alexander."

"Oh hi."

"Is there any news?"

"Well, not really. This afternoon we went to her husband, Owen, again, but he was still in such a state of shock we couldn't really talk to him… I left a colleague with him and I hope he will be able to talk to us tomorrow morning."

"Okay, I just wanted to tell you I have Sharon's PM scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, I'll probably start at 2."

"Alright, I will try to be there. Have a good evening, Nikki."

"You too, see you tomorrow."

She hung up the phone and closed her eyes.

"Anything?"

She shook her head, still keeping her eyes closed.

"Shall I go and pick up the food?" Harry asked.

"Ah I can't say I would mind if you did that."

She heard him getting up from his chair.

"I'll be back as soon as."

"Yep."

He left the office, leaving Nikki alone at her desk.

She did everything she could to keep her eyes open, but she just couldn't. A wave of tiredness crashed into her and within minutes she had fallen asleep.

Again she got woken up by her phone.

"Uhh… Now what?" she sighed.

She got her phone out of her pocket and checked who is was; she didn't recognise the number, but decided to pick up anyway.

"This is Nikki Alexander."

"Good evening, this is Harris Grey from _The National Enquirer _calling."

Gosh, she hated that kind of… rubbish tabloids.

"Is it true you are working on the case of the woman who was found out on Kingston Road in London this morning?"

How would he know and how did he get her number? Or was this someone's idea of a joke?

She tried her best to remain polite.

"I'm sorry, Mr Grey, but I cannot answer any questions regarding the case. I have to refer you to the police."

"So you _have _been assigned to the case?"

"I'm sorry, but how did you even get this number?"

"When are you carrying out the post mortem? I heard it got postponed?"

Wow, this guy really didn't understand English or something? How did he even know it had been postponed? Had there been a press conference?

"As I said: I cannot give you any details about the case. I'm sure you will get your answers if you call the police."

"Thank you Nikki, talk to you again soon."

He had hung up before she was able to reply.

A shiver ran down her spine. Something about the way he said it gave her the creeps. Who the hell was this guy?

She tried to call him back, but she got the "_the number you have dialled is not in service" _crap.

Harry walked in with the food.

"Now doesn't that smell great?"

He closed his eyes and sniffed up the scent of Babi Pangang and noodles.

"What is it?" he asked as soon as he saw her face.

"I don't know… I just got called by this strange guy from _The National Enquirer _and –"

"Stop right there," Harry said and help up his hand. "Guys who write that kind of rubbish are always strange. Forget about him and let's eat!"

"Yeah, you are right."

She sat back down again and removed the food from the bags. She still didn't feel completely reassured, though…

"Enjoy!" Harry said with a very happy face.

"You too…"


End file.
